On Memorial Day weekend the chill and rain will be memorable in Philly and at the Shore

The Philadelphia region at long last is about to experience the generous rains that have been missing all spring as drought conditions have persisted. But for millions in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast, the atmosphere’s timing couldn’t be much worse.

Some rain is possible all three days of a Memorial Day weekend that is going to feel more like Halloween. Driven by a raw wind off the ocean, Saturday could even set a record for coolness.

After a cool and generally dry Friday, save for some scattered light rain in the afternoon, “it will get worse before it gets better,” said Bob Larsen, senior meteorologist with AccuWeather Inc.

It is possible that rain totals could reach 2 to 2.5 inches during the weekend — double what fell in the first three weeks of May — and perhaps up to 3 inches, the National Weather Service said.

The weather service even mentioned “cold air damming,” the trapping of chilly air near the surface, a phenomenon more appropriate to New Year’s.

Why now? That would be a reasonable question among those who were planning picnics, or trips to the Shore, or attending or staging Memorial Day services. “I’ve been pummeled by friends and family,” Larsen said.

However, those who expect beach weather on Memorial Day weekend probably haven’t been around here too long. It has been worse — and not that long ago.

Things will be on the chilly, wet side from North Carolina to New England, said Marc Chenard, senior branch forecaster with the Weather Prediction Center in College Park, Md.

On the bright side for the Philly region, save for Saturday — when we will be in the core of the chill — the weekend forecast isn’t wall-to-wall ugly.

Rain was expected to begin very late Friday night — probably after the Phillies game — and continue steadily through Saturday and into Sunday.

Saturday’s forecast high in the mid-50s would challenge the Philly record for a low maximum for a May 23, 56 degrees. That’s about 20 degrees below normal.

The storm may not be a nor’easter. It will just look and feel like one. It will be traveling along an “undulating” frontal boundary to the south of the region, the weather center says.

Onshore winds from the east off the ocean, where water temperatures were in the upper 50s this week, will gust to 25 mph inland and 30 mph at the beaches.

For Sunday, the steady rain should be over by the afternoon, Larsen said, with just an outside chance of showers. It will be about 10 degrees or more warmer.

More showers are possible Monday, he said, but they will be hit-and-miss, and things should be dry most of the time. Temperatures may climb into the 70s if the sun decides to reappear.

Ocean City, N.J., beaches will be open, and guarded, town spokesperson Doug Bergen said. If it rains Monday morning, the ceremony scheduled for Veterans Memorial Park at 11 a.m. will move across the street to the Ocean City Tabernacle.

In Atlantic City, the annual “Opening of the Sea” ceremony was held Friday afternoon, ostensibly to mark what Shore officials call “the start of the summer season.”

The Atlantic may be open, but the ocean will not be especially inviting this weekend, with a rough surf and potentially dangerous riptides.

As uninviting as the forecast may be, it is likely to lose a game of one-downmanship with the chilly, wet Memorial Day weekend of 2021, when Philadelphia set records on back-to-back days for low daily maximum temperatures, not getting above 54.

Is it asking too much to have three consecutive sunny and rain-free days on Memorial Day weekend?

Yes, Larsen suggested. “It’s really difficult to string three consecutive days to precisely coincide with the holiday,” he said. The seasons are still in transition: Chilly air still is prowling around the Northern Hemisphere, and rain is apt to form when it encounters warm air from the south.

And the summer solstice is still almost a month away, regardless of what Shore officials say. Better luck on July Fourth.